A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C.

,
Thursday, February 16,1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull
A LECTURE ON CONSTITUTIONAL EQUALITY, DELIVERED AT LINCOLN HALL, WASHINGTON, D.C.,
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1871 BY VICTORIA C. WOODHULL.

NEW YORK: JOURNEYMEN PRINTER'S CO—OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION, NO. 30 BEEKMAN STREET.

1871

LECTURE

It was an honest zeal which first influenced me to appear before the public as a champion of a cause
which receives alike the jeers of the common multitude and the railery of the select few. It is an
honest zeal in the same, that inspires me with confidence to continue before it as its advocate, when
but too conscious that I am of that portion of the people who are denied the privileges of freedom;
who are not permitted the rights of citizens; and who are without voice, in the pursuit of justice, as
one of that sovereignty to whom this government owes its existence, and to whom it will be held
accountable, as it holds all accountable who set themselves against Human Rights.

I have do doubt it seems strange to many of you that a woman should appear before the people in
this public manner for political purposes, and it is due both to you and myself that I should give my
reasons for so doing.

On the 19th of December, 1870, I memorialized Congress, setting forth what I believed to be the
truth and right regarding Equal Suffrage for all citizens. This memorial was referred to the Judiciary
Committees of Congress. On the 12th of January I appeared before the House Judiciary Committee
and submitted to them the Constitutional and Legal points upon which I predicated such equality.
January 20th Mr. Bingham, on behalf of the majority of said Committee, submitted his report to the
House in which, while he admitted all my basic propositions, Congress was recommended to take
no action. February 1st Messrs. Loughridge and Butler of said Committee submitted a report in their
own behalf, which fully sustained the positions. I assumed and recommended that Congress should
pass a Declaratory Act, forever settling the mooted question of suffrage.
4
Thus it is seen that equally able men differ upon a simple point of Constitutional Law, and it is fair
to presume that Congress will also differ when these Reports come up for action. That a proposition

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involving such momentous results as this, should receive a one—third vote upon first coming before
Congress has raised it an importance, which spreads alarm on all sides among the opposition. So
long as it was not made to appear that women were denied Constitutional rights, no opposition was
aroused; but now that new light is shed, by which it is seen that such is the case, all the Conservative
weapons of bitterness, hatred and malice are marshalled in the hope to extinguish it, before it can
enlighten the masses of the people, who are always true to freedom and justice.

Public opinion is against Equality, but it is simply from prejudice, which requires but to be informed
to pass away. No greater prejudice exists against equality than there did against the proposition
that the world was a globe. This passed away under the influence of better information, so also will
present prejudice pass, when better informed upon the question of equality.

I trust you will pardon me the expression when I say that I do not comprehend how there can exist
an honest and perfect appreciation of the fundamental propositions upon which the superstructure
of our government is based, and, at the same time, an honest hostility to the legitimate deductions
of them, therefore I appear before you to expound as best I may the law involved by these
propositions and to point out the inconsistencies of those who evince hostility to such deductions.

I come before you, to declare that my sex are entitled to the inalienable right to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. The first two I cannot be deprived of except for cause and by due process of
law; but upon the last, a right is usurped to place restrictions so general as to include the whole of
my sex, and for which no reasons of public good can be assigned. I ask the right to pursue happiness
by having a voice in that government to which I am accountable. I have not forfeited that right, still
I am denied. Was assumed arbitrary authority ever more arbitrarily exercised? In practice, then, our
laws are false to 5 the principles which we profess. I have the right to life, to liberty, unless I forfeit it
by an infringement upon others’ rights, in which case the State becomes the arbiter and deprives me
of them for the public good. I also have the right to pursue happiness, unless I forfeit it in the same
way, and am denied it accordingly. It cannot be said, with any justice, that my pursuit of happiness
in voting for any man for office, would be an infringement of one of his rights as a citizen or as an
individual. I hold, then, that in denying me this right without my having forfeited it, that departure is
made from the principles of the Constitution, and also from the true principles of government, for I
am denied a right born with me, and which is inalienable. Nor can it be objected that women had no
part in organizing this government. They were not denied. To—day we seek a voice in government
and are denied. There are thousands of male citizens in the country who seldom or never vote.
They are not denied: they pursue happiness by not voting. Could it be assumed, because this body
of citizens do not choose to exercise the right to vote, that they could be permanently denied the

A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 16,1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull
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exercise thereof? If not, neither should it be assumed to deny women, who wish to vote, the right to
do so.

And were it true that a majority of women do not wish to vote, it would be no reason why those who
do, should be denied. If a right exist, and only one in a million desires to exercise it, no government
should deny its enjoyment to that one. If the thousands of men who do not choose to vote should
send their petitions to Congress, asking them to prevent others who do vote from so doing, would
they listen to them? I went before Congress, to ask for myself and others of my sex, who wish to
pursue our happiness by participating in government, protection in such pursuit, and I was told that
Congress has not the necessary power.

If there are women who do not desire to have a voice in the laws to which they are accountable, and
which they must contribute to support, let them speak for themselves; but they should not assume
to speak for me, or for those who I represent.

So much for the fundamental propositions upon which government is organized. Women did
not join in the act of constructing the Constitution. Women did not join in the act of constructing
the constitution. 6 So far as I know, none expressed a desire so to do, and consequently were
not denied. but what is government, and what a Republican form of government? Government is
national existence organized. Government of some form exists everywhere, but none would assume
to say that the government of China is similar to that of England, or that of Germany to that of the
United States. When government is fashioned for the people it is not a republican form, but when
fashioned by the people it is a republican government. Our form of government is supposed to
emanate from the people, and whatever control it possesses over the people is supposed to be
exercised by and with their consent; and even more than this, by their direct will and wish. If, at any
time, there are powers exercised by a government which emanates from, and is dependent upon,
the will of the people, which the majority of the people do not desire to be continued, they have it
in their power, and it is their duty, to compel their suspension. If, at any time, the majority of the
people from whom has emanated, and who support a republican form of government, desire that
it should assume new functions, exercise more extended control or provide for new circumstances,
not existent at its primary organization, they have the power and it is their duty to compel their
government to take such action as is necessary to secure the form that shall be acceptable.

The people are virtually the government, and it is simply the concentration and expression of their
will and wisdom through which they assume form as a body politic or as a nation. The government
is an embodiment of the people, and as they change so also must it change. In this significant fact
lie all the true beauty and wisdom of our form of polity. It can be changed without actual revolution,
and consequently possesses the inherent qualities of permanency. It is capable of adaptation to all

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contingences and circumstances, and provides how changes shall be made. It nowhere positively
declares that its citizens, or the people, if you please, shall not have the right to vote under its
provisions; and, mark you it nowhere provides that any portion of the people shall vote.

Before government was organized there were no citizens, but there were people, and these people
had the human right to organize a government 7 under which they could become citizens. In the
absence of organized government, individual government alone exists, every individual having the
human right to control himself and herself.

Now, if a people — an aggregate of individuals — not having a government, undertake to construct

one, wherein but one—half should engage, the other half taking no part therein, and its functions
should be exercised over the whole, it is plain that so far as the non—engaged part would be
concerned, it would be an usurped authority that dispossessed them of the inherent right which all
people have in organized government. But so long as the unconsulted part quietly acquiesce in such
a government, there could be none to question its right to control. At the moment, however, when
the unconsulted portion should demur from such government, they would begin to assert the right
to self—government, possessed equally by all. The fact that such right had not been made known
by expression, could in no wise invalidate it. It would remain an inherent possession, and whenever
expressed it could be maintained and enjoyed.

The condition of the people of this country to—day is this:

I and others of my sex find ourselves controlled by a form of government in the inauguration of
which we had no voice, and in whose administration we are denied the right to participate, though
we are a large part of the people of this country. Was George III's rule, which he endeavored to
exercise over our fathers, less clearly an assumed rule than is this to which we are subjected? He
exercised it over them without their consent and against their wish and will, and naturally they
rebelled. Do men of the United States assume and exercise any less arbitrary rule over us than
that was? No, not one whit the less. To be sure his cabinet were few, while they are many; but the
principle is the same; in both cases the inherent elemental right to self—government is equally
over—ridden by the assumption of power. But the authority King George's Parliament exercised
was even more consistent than this is which they assume and exercise: his government made no
pretension to emanation from the people.

When our fathers launched “Taxation without representation is tyranny” against King George, were
they consistent? Certainly. Were 8 they justified? Yes; for out of it came our national independence.
The Revolutionary war, which gave our country independence, grew from this tyranny. Was that
war justifiable? Most assuredly it was. We find that the same declarations of tyranny were raised by

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Congress in the lengthy discussions upon enfranchising the negro. Such sentiments as the following
were often repeated, and with great effect: “A considerable part of the people of the United States
embraced under the preamble to the Constitution, ‘We, the people,’ are left without representation
in the government; but, nevertheless, held within the grasp of taxation of all kinds, direct and
indirect, tariff and excise, State and national. This is tyranny, or else our fathers were wrong when
they protested against a kindred injustice. This principle is fundamental. it cannot be violated
without again dishonoring the fathers,” whose rights were so ably and eloquently asserted and
defended by James Otis, who, in his “Right of the Colonies,” says: “The very act of taxing exercised
over those who are not represented, appears to me to be depriving them of one of their most
essential rights as freemen, and if continued, seems to be, in effect, an entire disfranchisement
of every civil right. For what one civil right is worth a rush after a man's property is subject to be
taken from him at pleasure without his consent? If a man is not his own assessor, in person or by
deputy, his liberty is gone, or he is entirely at the mercy of others.” Could stronger words than these
be found or used in favor of universal suffrage? They applied with sufficient force then to rouse a
few men, whose souls were fired with its injustice, to resist a powerful oppressor. It was one of the
most forcible arguments by which the cause of the negro was advocated. Is it any less forcible in its
application to women? Is the tyranny now exercised over women under, as some say, the authority
of the government — but we say, without any authority — any less tyrannous than that over our
fathers? or than that of the negro, for whom many plead so earnestly? Or is nothing tyranny for
women? If a civil right is “not worth a rush” to a man when he is taxed and not represented, how
much is it worth to a woman? If a “ man's liberty is gone,” and he is “at the mercy of others” when
thus taxed, what becomes of woman's under the same tyranny? If 9 “every man of sound mind
should note,” by what principle can every woman of sound mind be deprived of voting? Or are all
women of unsound mind? Not exactly; they are found to be very proper persons as the assigns of
men in many instances.

In the records of the early days of the Republic, there are found numerous authorities bearing
directly upon this point, such as, “That by the law of nature no man has a right to impose laws more
than to levy taxes upon another; that the freeman pays no taxes, as the free man submits to no
law but such as emanate from the body in which he is represented.” If the freeman pays no taxes
without representation, how is it that the freewoman is compelled to do so? Not long since I was
notified by a United States officer that if I did not pay a certain tax the government had imposed
upon me, my property would be levied upon and sold for that purpose. Is this tyranny, or can men
find some other word to take the place of that used by our fathers so freely, and by Congress, not
so long ago as to be forgotten, with such powerful effect? Has oppression become less odious,
that in these days twenty of the forty millions of people who compose the sovereign people of this

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country must quietly submit to what has been, in all ages of representative government, denounced
as tyranny?

But let us hear more of the principles which actuated our fathers: “All men having sufficient evidence
of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage,
and cannot be taxed or deprived of their property for public uses without their own consent or that
of their representatives so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not in like manner
assented for the public good.” — Virginia Bill of Rights, Jan. 12, 1776.

So it appears that our fathers declared that no one should be bound by any law in the making of
which he had no voice. How would this principle operate to—day should I refuse to pay the taxes
levied against me without my consent and in direct opposition to my wishes? Would I be justified in
declaring that I would not pay? I might be justified, but I do not think I should escape the tyranny.

Franklin said, “That every man of the community, except infants, insane people and criminals, is of
common right, and by the laws of 10 God, a freeman, and entitled to the free enjoyment of liberty.
That freedom or liberty consists in having an actual share in the appointment of those who frame the
laws, and who are to be the guardians of every man, for the all of one man is as dear to him as the
all of another man; and the poor man has an equal right, but more need, to have representatives
than the rich one.” “That they who have no voice nor vote in the election of representatives do not
enjoy liberty, but are absolutely enslaved; for to be enslaved is to have governors whom others have
set over us.”

If freedom consists in having an actual share in appointing those who frame the laws, are not the
women of this country in absolute bondage, and can government, in the face of the XV. Amendment,
assume to deny them the right to vote, being in this “condition of servitude?” According to Franklin
we are absolutely enslaved, for there are “governors set over us by other men,” and we are “subject
to the laws” they make. Is not Franklin good authority in matters of freedom? Again, rehearsing the
arguments that have emanated from Congress and applying them to the present case, we learn that
“It is idle to show that, in certain instances, the fathers failed to apply the sublime principles which
they declared. Their failure can be no apology for those on whom the duty is now cast.” Shall it be an
apology now? Shall the omission of others to do justice keep the government from measuring it to
those who now cry out for it? I went before Congress like Richelieu to his king asking for justice. Will
they deny it as he did until the exigencies of the case compel them?

I am subject to tyranny! I am taxed in every conceivable way. For publishing a paper I must pay
— for engaging in the banking and brokerage business I must pay — of what it is my fortune to
acquire each year I must turn over a certain per cent — I must pay high prices for tea, coffee and

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sugar: to all these must I submit, that men's government may be maintained, a government in the
administration of which I am denied a voice, and from its edicts there is no appeal. I must submit to
a heavy advance upon the first cost of nearly everything I wear in order that industries in which I have
no interest may exist at my expense. I am compelled to pay extravagant rates of fare wherever 11
I travel, because the franchises, extended to gigantic corporations, enable them to sap the vitality
of the country, to make their managers money kings, by means of which they boast of being able to
control not only legislators but even a State judiciary.

To be compelled to submit to these extortions that such ends may be gained, upon any pretext or
under any circumstances, is bad enough: but to be compelled to submit to them, and also denied
the right to cast my vote against them, is a tyranny more odious than that which, being rebelled
against, gave this country independence.

But usurpations do not stop here. The Constitution, as it stood on the day of its original adoption,
under the interpretation of that day, guided by the principle of self—government, admits perfect
equality among the people. There are no imitations contained in it by which any part of the people
from whom it emanated could be placed unequally with any other part. Permit me to quote from
a speech delivered by Mr. Sumner, in the Senate of the United States, March 7, 1866, upon the
following proposition:

Representatives shall be appointed among the several States which may be included in this Union,
according to their respective number of persons included in each State, excluding Indians not
taxed: Provided, That whenever the elective franchise shall be denied or abridged by any State on
account of race or color, all persons therein of such race or color shall be excluded from the basis
of representation. “Adopt this,” said Mr. Sumner, “and you will stimulate anew the war of race upon
race. Slavery itself was a war of race upon race, and this is only a new form of this terrible war. Adopt
it, and you will put millions of fellow—citizens under the ban of excommunication. You will declare
that they have no political rights which ‘white men’ are bound to respect. Adopt it, and you will cover
the country with dishonor. Adopt it, and you will fix the stigma upon the very name of Republic.” In
express terms there is an admission of the idea of inequality of rights founded on race and color. That
this unrepublican idea should be allowed to find a place in the text of the Constitution, will excite
especial wonder, when it is considered how conscientiously our fathers excluded from that text the
kindred idea of property in man. Mr. 12 Madison “thought it wrong to admit in the Constitution the
idea of property in man.” “But,” says Mr. Sumner, “is it less wrong to admit in the Constitution, the
idea of inequality of rights founded on race and color?” Is it not, I ask, a graver wrong to insist that
one—half the people of all races and colors have not equal right, because they are women; and this too
when there are no provisions contained in the Constitution which can by any possibility be construed

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to give the other half disfranchising power? Fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, does not your blood
tingle with shame in your veins at this ignoble distinction? How can you look in your sisters’ faces
and declare they shall not enjoy the citizen's rights, granted to the lowest orders and classes in the
human race?

Therefore it is, that instead of growing in republican liberty, we are departing from it. From an
unassuming, acquiescent part of society, woman has gradually passed to an individualized
human being, and as she has advanced, one after another evident right of the common people
has been accorded to her. She has now become so much individualized as to demand the full
and unrestrained exercise of all the rights which can be predicated of a people constructing a
government based on individual sovereignty. She asks it, and shall Congress deny her?

The formal abolition of slavery created several millions of male negro citizens, who, a portion of the
acknowledged citizens assumed to say, were not entitled to equal rights with themselves. To get over
this difficulty, Congress in its wisdom saw fit to propose a XIV. Amendment to the Constitution, which
passed into a law by ratification by the States. Sec. I. of the Amendment declares: “All persons, born
or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United
States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall
abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States. Nor shall any State deprive
any person of life, liberty and property without due process of law, nor deny any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.”

But there is an objection raised to our broad interpretation of this Amendment, and that is obtained
from the wording of the second 13 section thereof: “But whenever the right to vote,” etc., “is denied
to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty—one years of age, and citizens of the
United States,” etc., etc., “the basis of representation then shall be reduced in the proportion which
the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty—one years
of age.” Consistency is said to be a bright jewel when possessed, but I doubt its possession by those
who have the boldness to advance this as an argument in opposition to this point. We surely have
a right to use the logic of objectors in interpreting their own propositions, and we therefore reply,
ita lex scripta est. If the Constitution mean nothing but what is expressed, how can it be presumed to
infer anything from the use of the word male in this second section, except what it expresses? The
right of women to vote, or the denial of that right to them, is not involved by this section under the
furthest fetched application.

I am perfectly well aware of the attempt which was made in the Congress of 1866 to add a special,
but indirectly restrictory clause, to the Constitution, providing that the basis of representation should
be the then recognized legal voters. It was perceived that the arguments advanced for political

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equality for the negro were equally potent for women. The inconsistency of women forming a part
of the basis of representation, and being denied participation in it, was too apparent to escape
sagacious minds. The attempt, however, did not succeed. Its promoters did not dare openly to avow
their intentions, but it is known that they felt the time would come when women would claim equal
political rights, which could not consistently be denied them, unless, when it should be necessary so
to do, that proper restrictory legislation should be contained in the Constitution.

The only point which I can see the report of the majority of the Judiciary Committee attempts to
make against my demand, I propose to meet by quoting authority, which I am positive no one will
think of questioning.

Chief Justice Taney in Howard, Rep., 404, thus defines the words people and citizen. The words “
people of the United States” and citizens are synonymous terms and mean the same thing. They both
14 describe the political body, who, according to our republican institutions, form the sovereignty and
who hold the power and conduct the government through their representatives. They are what we
familiarly call the sovereign people, and every citizen is one of this people and a constituent member of
this sovereignty.

Ibid, p. 476: “There is not, it is believed, to be found in the theories of writers on government, or
in any actual experiment heretofore tried, any exposition of the term citizen, which has not been
considered as conferring the actual possession and enjoyment of the perfect right of acquisition and
enjoyment of an entire equality of privileges, civil and political.” Such authority as this, couched in
such strong words, leaves no doubt about the constitutional meaning of these terms.

I do not think it possible that the Congress or the people of the United States, when they shall
give this matter due consideration, will refuse to accept such authority upon the rights of citizens,
the decisions of the report referred to, to the contrary notwithstanding. The XIV. Amendment has
compelled said Committee to admit just enough too much to make their entire position untenable.
Being citizens, women are of the “sovereign people,” and entitled to the enjoyment of an entire
equality of privileges, civil and political.”

After the adoption of the XIV. Amendment it was found that still more legislation was required to
secure the exercise of the right to vote to all who by it were declared to be citizens, and the following
comprehensive amendment was passed by Congress and ratified by the States: “The right of citizens
of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State
on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.” Nothing could be more explicit than
this language, and nothing more comprehensive. “But,” says the objector, ever on the alert, “it
may be denied on account of sex.” It must be remembered “that is law which is written,” and that

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all inferences drawn must be in accord with the general intent of the instrument involved by the
inference. If the right to vote cannot be denied on account of race, how can it be denied on account
of a constituent part of race, unless the power of denial is specially expressed. The larger always
includes the smaller, which, if reserved, the reservation 15 must be expressed. No inference can be
allowed to determine that any part of the citizens covered by the term, race, can be denied the right
to vote, unless the denial is expressed. It seems to me that no logic can be plainer than this. Had
this amendment recited that the right to vote should not be denied on account of race, except to
females, it would have left the right of denial to the States, but even then, under the XIV. Amendment,
the denial would have to be made, with women participating therein, and although there are those
who assert that the majority of women do not desire to vote, I think none of you can imagine that,
possessing the right, they would remain at home and permit it to be taken away.

This Amendment is just as much a part of the Constitution as though it had been one of its original
provisions. The effect of the Constitution, as it now stands, upon the present citizens must be the
same that it would have been upon the citizens at the time of its original adoption, had it contained
all its present provisions. Previous to its adoption there were no citizens of the United States.
Immediately it was adopted persons became citizens, but had not voted as citizens of the United
States under it. Under these circumstances, with these provisions in the Constitution, which declare
that Representatives shall be elected by the people; that all people are citizens, and that the right to
vote shall not be denied on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude, I ask Congress,
and I ask them upon their solemn oaths, to give vitality to the provisions of the Constitution, and to
guarantee a republican form of government to every State, who among the people, persons, citizens,
who resided in the States, could have been denied the right to vote for Representatives? We must
regard this Amendment as though there had been no negroes requiring enfranchisement. We must
divorce our minds from the negro and look at the Constitution as it is. We must not be biased by
surrounding circumstances. It must apply to these conditions and interpret them. It is the basis
of equality constructed by all and for all, and from which all partake of equal rights, privileges and
immunities.

Because this Amendment was framed to apply to the African race and to black people and to those
who had been slaves, it must not be concluded 16 that it has no broader application. Whoever it may
include, under logical construction, to them the right to vote shall not be denied. Take the African
race and the black color and the previous slaves out of the way, and what application would this
Amendment then have? This is the way to test these things, the way to arrive at what they mean.
Who will pretend to say this Amendment would mean nothing were there no negroes, and there had
been no Southern slaves? Who will pretend to say that the Amendment would mean nothing in the
coming election, provided that there never before had been an election under the Constitution? If

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you provide a Constitutional amendment, having one race specially in view, it must not be forgotten
that there are other races besides. Thirty—seven States constitute the United States. If you speak of
the United States you speak of all the States, for they are all included. If you speak of a part of the
United States, you must designate what part, in order that it may be known what you mean. A race is
composed of two sexes. If you speak of a race you include both sexes. If yo speak of a part of a race,
you must designate which part in order to make yourselves intelligible.

The same line of reasoning applies to the word color, although some assume to say that color in
this Amendment means black, as white is no color. But how should any know what specific color
is referred to in this Amendment? One might say it was intended to mean a copper color; another
a mulatto color, and still another that of a Spaniard or an Italian. How can any one determine
absolutely that the word race or color in this Amendment referred to the African race and to black
color? Hence you must see the complete absurdity of interpreting this to mean any special race or
color, or any number of races and colors less than the whole number.

I have learned that high judicial authority has been invoked upon this question of law, and that his
authority has declared that neither the XIV. nor XV. Amendment gave anybody the right to vote. I
think I give the exact words. I have not claimed that the XV. Amendment gave any one the right to
vote. There is no language in either the XIV. or XV. Amendment which confers rights not possessed;
but I will state what these Amendments do say, and if it is 17 not equal to the declaration of the
right of all to vote I confess that my perceptions are at fault for I cannot perceive the difference.
They declare positively — not negatively — that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States
are citizens of the United States,” and, mark you, of the State wherein they reside. I am a person ,
one of the sovereign people, a citizen of the United States and of the State of New York. Does the
State of New York enforce any law which abridges my privileges or immunities as a citizen? Is it
nothing to be denied the right to vote? What privileges and immunities have I differing from those of
the subjects of the most absolute monarch? They are subject to such laws as he sees fit to impose.
Am I subject to any laws other than are imposed upon me? It does not appear possible to me that
men are conscious of the tyranny they exercise over women. It may be mildly exercised, but it is,
nevertheless, absolute tyranny. I can have what they will give. Could the veriest slave have less?
Therefore, government permits the State of New York, in the face of the XIV. Amendment, to enforce
laws which abridge my privileges and immunities, as well as those of every other woman who
resides therein, who is responsible, taxed and who contributes to the maintenance of an organized
government.

“But,” says the authority, “neither does the XV. Amendment give anybody the right to vote.” What
does it do? or was it an utter abortion of Congressional wisdom? “The right to vote shall not be

A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 16,1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull
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denied on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.” The right to vote, then, is
possessed. It may be, as some say, a negative admission of the existence of the right; nevertheless, it
is an admission, and one under which I claim to be a voter.

I now come to the previous condition of servitude, and there is much more in this than is at first
apparent. We had become so accustomed to regard African slavery as servitude that we forgot there
were other conditions of servitude besides. Slavery or a condition of servitude is, plainly speaking,
subjection to the will of others. The negroes were subject to the will of their masters, were in a
condition of servitude and had no power or authority as citizens over themselves.

I make the plain and broad assertion, that the women of this 18 country are as much subject to men
as the slaves were to their masters. The extent of the subjection may be less and its severity milder,
but it is a complete subjection nevertheless. What can women do that men deny them? What could
not the slave have done if not denied?

It is not the women who are happily situated, whose husbands hold positions of honor and trust,
who are blessed by the bestowal of wealth, comforts and ease that I plead for. These do not feel
their condition of servitude any more than the happy, well—treated slave felt her condition. Had
slavery been of this kind it is at least questionable if it would not still have been in existence; but it
was not all of this kind. Its barbarities, horrors and inhumanities roused the blood of some who were
free, and by their efforts the male portion of a race were elevated by Congress to the exercise of the
rights of citizenship. Thus would I have Congress regard woman, and shape their action, not from
the condition of those who are so well cared for as not to wish a change to enlarge their sphere of
action, but for the toiling female millions, who have human rights which should be respected.

It may be affirmed that the exercise of suffrage will not ameliorate their conditions. I affirm that it
will, and for authority will refer to the improved condition of our fathers and also to the improved
condition of the negroes since they acquired the rights of citizenship; since they were enfranchised:
and how enfranchised? The XV. Amendment does not grant them the right to vote. Neither does it
to me; but it forbids that a right already possessed shall be denied. If the male negroes, as citizens,
possessed the right to vote, shall it be assumed that women citizens do not possess the same right?

It is said the Amendment does not give any one the right to vote. Suppose we admit that for a
moment. I think men will desire to disown it. If the XIV. and XV. Amendments give none the right to
vote, let me ask them where they obtain their right to vote? Do they get it from the Constitution?
Nowhere does it say “the right to vote,” except in this XV. Amendment. Do they vote by right, or is
this another usurpation which they exercise? Where do they get their right to vote? I will tell them
where they get their right to vote. They inherit it from their God, and every one of the sovereign

A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 16,1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull
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people inherits it from 19 the same infinite source, Who knows no such ignoble limitation as that
of sex. The right to vote is higher than State laws, higher than countries’ constitutions. I can neither
be given nor taken by laws or by constitutions. These are but means for its exercise, and when our
laws and constitutions shall have been reduced to this standard we shall have a republican form of
government, and not till then.

One more point and I shall dismiss this Amendment. It has been insisted, again and again, that
the denial may be made on account of sex, and that it was not intended by those who framed
this Amendment to make such a broad application and such a sweeping enfranchisement as my
interpretation embraces. This is not he first time, even in legislation, that people, having a single
point in view which they were determined to gain, have overreached themselves; happily, however,
this time it was in the cause of liberty, humanity and equal rights.

All law may not be the deductions of logic, but where law does not apply fact and logic must. Here,
however, law and fact do apply, while the deductions are very clear.

This Amendment declares that the right to vote shall not be denied on account of race. The class
of opposers who still wish to deny women the right to vote, declare this means the African race. Let
us see how this would read. The right to vote shall not be denied on account of the African race.
To WHOM shall it not be denied on account of the African race? This certainly does not inform us,
for it simply declares that it shall not be denied on account of the African race. Therefore, if this
Amendment were even modified by saying the African race, it would still fail to leave any room for
denial. But it does not say African race, and cannot, therefore, be interpreted to mean the African
race, when there are so many other races represented in this country. Who would pretend that
though the right to vote could not be denied to the African race, it might be denied to the Teuton, the
Celt or the Scandinavian? Under any other interpretation of this Amendment than the broad one I
make, the right to vote may be denied to any race or all other races except the African.

Does Congress desire that an interpretation shall stand upon the 20 Constitution, that, should the
time come when the Anglo—Saxons would not be predominant, would permit other races to unite
and deny the right to vote to the Anglo—Saxon race? See the dilemma in which this matter is placed
by persisting in denying women the right to vote?

There is but one construction the language of this Amendment is susceptible of, and this becomes
apparent if the section is properly rendered. It simply means that the right to vote shall not
be denied on account of race to ANYBODY. By the interpolation of this word the sense of this
Amendment is complete and unmistakable. From the simple negative it changes it to an all—

A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 16,1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull
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powerful command, by which the sovereign people declare that the right to vote shall not be denied
by the United States nor by any State to any person of any race.

We are now prepared to dispose of the sex argument. If the right to vote shall not be denied to any
person of any race, how shall it be denied to the female part of all races? Even if it could be denied
on account of sex, I ask, what warrant men have to presume that it is the female sex to whom such
denial can be made instead of the male sex? Men, you are wrong, and you stand convicted before
the world of denying me, a woman, the right to vote, not by any right of law, but simply because you
have usurped the power so to do, just as all other tyrants in all ages have, to rule their subjects. The
extent of the tyranny in either case being limited only by the power to enforce it.

And this brings us to the “qualification” argument; which before entering upon I must premise by
saying, I consider it the most stupid of them all. If there is little of sound logic in the other objections,
in this there is none at all. It is the purest attempt at quackery that was ever palmed off upon a
nation.

The only reason that can be offered for which women can be denied the right to vote is that they
do not “possess the requisite qualifications for electors of the most numerous branch of the State
Legislature.” Article I, section 2 of the Federal Constitution.

Again: “The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives shall be
prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law makers,
21 alter such regulations.” Federal Constitution; article I, section 6, paragraph 1.

Upon these two words, “qualifications” and “regulations,” must be based the whole authority for
denying to women the right to vote. It has been said that the right to vote exists, but has been
denied. A person being denied the right to vote is disfranchised. Are the terms qualification,
regulation and disfranchisement synonymous? Qualifications are what citizens can acquire, and
after having acquired can use them or not. Disfranchisement cannot be overcome. Anything that is
made a qualification, which cannot be attained, which is an impossibility, is not a qualification, either
within the meaning of the Constitution or of dictionaries. Sex cannot be made a disqualification.
To be denied the right to vote on account of sex is the pure essence of disfranchisement; for how
can a person, a citizen, being a woman, obtain the qualification of being a man? I regret that I am
compelled to impugn your good sense by the argument, but I have had “sex” sounded in my ears
until I can scarcely think of it with patience or speak of it with courtesy. Sex is a quality obtained
by nature, and with what degree of regard for common honesty shall men continue to call this a
disqualification which women must overcome? Was ever a more intolerable thing? It is like saying
to the starving, “You may eat; here is a stone.” The kingdom of human rights cannot be invaded to

A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 16,1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull
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furnish qualifications for voters; these qualifications must be of a character equally attainable by all
citizens. No more can be required of woman than of man. If men become qualified by residence,
property, education, character, age, etc., so, too, must women be able to qualify by the same means.

I do not care what qualifications the States require for electors. What I ask is, that they shall apply
equally to all citizens of the United States, whether they are men or women. For men to say to
women, “You shall not vote because you are women” is intolerable; is unbearable, and it will not do
for Congress to quietly allow this disfranchisement to continue. Congress has the power to make and
alter the regulations of a State, and I respectfully ask Congress to 22 make and alter the regulations
of the State of New York, so that I shall not be disfranchised under the misnomer of the qualification
of sex.

Nor is authority wanting upon this point, and that, too, from our fathers who framed the State
Constitutions, of which we hear so much, and who thought so differently from what is now
predicated of them.

Mr. Madison, as a member of the Virginia Convention said: “ Some States might regulate the elections
on the Principle of equality, and others might regulate them otherwise. Should the people of any
State, by any means, be deprived of the right of suffrage IT WAS DEEMED PROPER THAT IT SHOULD
BE REMEDIED BY THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT.” One half of all citizens of the United States are
disfranchised because they are not men, a something to which they can never attain. Nature has
made a distinction which it is impossible to get over. How do the arguments which were used in
Congress not many months ago, pale before the awful magnitude of this National dishonor? They
were then entreated to not continue the disfranchisement of a few millions of negroes, but they
unblushingly continue the disfranchisement of many millions of women.

If there are good and consistent reasons why some should not be electors let them be applied
without regard to sex or any other general condition. Let men as well as women be subject to them.
If they include me I will not complain; I will but ask that every man shall be prevented for the same
reasons I am, and for none other. If men were unreasonably prevented from suffrage I would as
earnestly plead their cause. No person felt more for the emancipated negro race than myself;
but with their enfranchisement I could not forget that the whole female sex was laboring under
the same disabilaties from which they were raised. Negroes could not qualify to become voters,
Congress assisted them and they are voters; hence I went to Congress to plead for women. The
negro found many advocates — men whose souls were large enough to take in all God's family. But
with this great effort they closed. Woman must be her own advocate. Few of the male sex – few of

A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 16,1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull
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those who battled so manfully for the negro — now 23 come forward and lift their voices against this
thrice greater, this terrible wrong.

Slavery will ever be regarded by all our descendants as a foul blotch upon the escutcheon of this
country's honor, which ages alone can wash away. Congress know this, but they do not yet know
how much more foul will this greater wrong be regarded by future ages. It should be the task of the
next Congress to remove this damning thing. That Congress which recognized negroes as citizens is
already reverenced for its mighty work. So, too, will that Congress which shall recognize women as
citizens of equal rights with the negro be regarded with reverence in proportion to the magnitude of
the result of its labors.

I assume then —

1st. That the rights, privileges and immunities of all citizens are equal.

2d. That no citizens as a class can be denied the right to vote, except they first forfeit it as a class.

3d. That the qualifications which a State may require of electors must be such as can be acquired by
all persons by the same means.

4th. That the State may make regulations but cannot enforce prohibitions.

5th. That anything that may be required which is impossible of one—half of the people or any
considerable class, possessing all the other qualifications required for electors, is not a qualification,
but disfranchisement.

6th. That a State which disfranchises any part of its citizens on account of any natural quality is not
possessed of a Republican form of government.

7th. That if a State has not a Republican form of government it is the solemn duty of Congress, under
its Constitutional obligations, to guarantee it to its citizens resident therein.

Thus have I endeavored, as briefly as possible, to place before you my reasons for claiming the right
to vote for myself and others of my sex who desire it. Neither upon general principles nor by special
provision of the Constitution can I perceive that men have any right to deny it to us. So long as we
did not claim it, it was 24 not denied, but I do now claim that I am, equally with men, possessed of the
right to vote, and if no others of my sex claim it, I will stand alone and reiterate my claim, and if the
right is possessed, men have no power other than an usurped one to deny me.

A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 16,1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull
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The first official duty of every Congressman is to take a solemn oath to support and give vitality
to the Constitution of the United States, not as they would, or might wish it to be, but as it is. That
constitution declares that women are citizens, and that citizens shall not be denied the right to vote.
In the face of these facts, how can they, with that oath recorded, deliberately set at naught these
plain declarations?

I went before Congress to demand a right, and memorialized them, setting forth my grievances,
and frankly and fully to the extent of my ability I endeavored to make my claim clear. This is a vital
matter, fraught with more momentous events than have ever yet dawned upon the world. Through
it civilization will make a giant stride from barbarism toward perfection — a stride which will land the
human race near the haven where every person living will become a law unto himself, where there
shall be no need of Constitutions, Houses of Congress and Executives, such as are necessary now.

Regarding it as I do, it becomes to me the most sacred duty of my life to attain to my rights under
the Constitution.

I think I have examined this subject quite thoroughly; to me it appears very plain, but to others
it may not. I have no doubt about the common rights of citizens under the original text of the
Constitution. There is no room for doubt since the addition of the XIV. and XV. Amendments.
Whatever doubt there may yet be in the minds of opponents, I now propose to show you that
whether equality is Constitutional or not, Congress has already given its verdict in favor of my
position, whether intentionally or unwittingly I know nor care not; it is sufficient that it is given, and
that, too, in the form of positive law.

Permit me to return for a moment to Mr. Bingham, who has played so prominent a part, who has
wrought so much better than he knew. In his report adverse to my memorial, which asked for an Act
to place the right of all citizens to vote above question, he says in the outset: 25 “Since the adoption
of the XIV. Amendment of the Constitution there is no longer any reason to doubt that all persons
born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of the State wherein they reside.” And in closing: “We are of opinion, therefore,
that it is not competent for Congress to establish by law the right to vote, without regard to sex,
in the several States of this Union, without the consent of the people of such States, and against
their constitutions and laws; and that such legislation would be, in our judgment, a violation of the
Constitution of the United States and of the rights reserved to the States. We therefore recommend
that the prayer of the petitioner be not granted.”

A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 16,1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull
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This report was made to the House of Representatives, January 30, 1871. It is almost impossible
to conceive that the author of this report was the same person who drew the XIV. Amendment,
and AN ACT to enforce the rights of citizens of the United States to vote in the several States of the
Union, and for other purposes, approved May 31, 1870. If Mr. Bingham can harmonize these three
instruments and maintain himself before the people of the United States as the great legal authority
of the Congress of the United States, he will accomplish something no other person living would be
able to do. But let us refer to this act of less than a year ago, which I have taken the precaution to
produce, section 2 of which is as follows:

And be it further enacted, That if, by or under the authority of the constitution or laws of any State, or
the laws of any Territory, any act is or shall be required to be done as a prerequisite or qualification
for voting, and by such constitution or laws persons or officers are or shall be charged with the
performance of duties in furnishing to citizens an opportunity to perform such prerequisite, or to
become qualified to vote, it shall be the duty of every such person or officer to give to all citizens
of the United States the same and equal opportunity to perform such prerequisite, and to become
qualified to vote without distinction of race, color or previous condition of servitude; and if any such
person or officer shall refuse or knowingly omit to give full effect to this section, he shall, for every
such offence, forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred dollars to the person aggrieved thereby, to be
recovered by an action on the case, with full costs and such allowance for counsel fees as the court
shall deem just, and shall also, for every such offence, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and
shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not less than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not less
than one month and not more than one year, or both, at the discretion of the court.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That whenever, by or under the authority of the constitution or
laws of any State, or the laws of any Territory, any act is or shall be required to [be] done by any
citizen as a prerequisite to qualify or entitle him to vote, the offer of any such citizen to perform
the act required to be done as aforesaid shall, if it fail to be carried into execution by reason of the
26 wrongful act or mission aforesaid of the person or officer charged with the duty of receiving
or permitting such performance or offer to perform or acting thereon, be deemed and held as
a performance in law of such act; and the person so offering and failing as aforesaid, and being
otherwise qualified, shall be entitled to vote in the same manner and to the same extent as if he had
in fact performed such act; and any judge, inspector or other officer of election whose duty it is or
shall be to receive, count, certify, register, report or give effect to the vote of such citizen upon the
presentation by him of his affidavit stating such offer and the time and place thereof, and the name
of the officer or person whose duty it was to act thereon, and that he was wrongfully prevented by
such person or officer from performing such act, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay the sum
of five hundred dollars to the person aggrieved thereby, to be recovered by an action on the case,

A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 16,1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull
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with full costs and such allowance for counsel fees as the court shall deem just, and shall also for
every such offence be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not less
than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not less than one month and not more than one year, or
both, at the discretion of the court.

SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall
have the same right in every State and Territory in the United States to make and enforce contracts,
to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for
the security of person and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like
punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses and exactions of every kind, and none other, any law,
statute, ordinance, regulation or custom to the contrary notwithstanding. No tax or charge shall
be imposed or enforced by any State upon any person immigrating thereto from a foreign country
which is not equally imposed and enforced upon every person immigrating to such State from any
other foreign country; and any law of any State in conflict with this provision is hereby declared null
and void.

Thus we find Mr. Bingham, in the XIV. Amendment, declaring that all persons are citizens; in an Act
approved May 31, 1870, making it a penal offence for any officer of election in any State to refuse to
permit all citizens the same and equal opportunities to perform the prerequisites to become qualified
to vote; less than a year afterward informing us that women are not citizens, and on January 30, 1871
— less than two months thereafter — very decidedly expressing a contrary opinion, and adding
that Congress has no power to enforce their rights as citizens in the States, which is a complete
stultification of the Act of last May. At present Mr. Bingham does not think women are entitled to
vote. What he may think to—morrow or next month it would be quite impossible to predict. Whether
we are to account for his inconsistencies by presuming that he has not attained to the knowledge
that the States, through their respective legislatures, by the act of adopting and ratifying the XIV.
and XV. Amendments, did remove all obstructions to the right of women citizens to vote or by some
other disability of mind it is impossible to determine.
27
What did Congress ask the States to do? To ratify the Amendments. They did ratify them, and thereby
enfranchised women as citizens. Mr. Bingham does not yet seem to comprehend what the States
were asked to do, nor that they did what was requested of them.

It is clear from the report of the majority of the Judiciary Committee, that they take the view that
there is “something” in the Constitutions or Laws of the States which is contrary to the language,
spirit, intent and purpose of these Amendments, and that this consistent something must be
removed by the States. I contend that by the adoption of these Amendments, the States did legislate

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upon the subject, and remove all inconsistencies and all obstructions to the right to vote, leaving
them as parts and parcels of the “Supreme Law,” before which all existing legislation contrary to and
inconsistent therewith did fall, and was rendered null and void.

The Constitution can be amended as follows: “Congress, whenever two—thirds of both Houses shall
deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to the Constitution, which shall be valid to all intents
and purposes as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three—fourths of the
several States,” Article V. Again it says: “This Constitution and the laws of the United States which
shall be made under authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land,” Article VI.

These amendments were thus proposed by two—thirds of both Houses — were thus ratified by the
Legislatures of three—fourths of the several States, and were thus formally legislated upon by all
the several State Legislatures and adopted by them in the due and solemn manner in which they
pass all laws. From the moment the official declaration was made that they were so adopted by State
legislation, they became a part of the “supreme law of the land,” which they never could have become
without such legislation.

Are not these amendments in question, as a part of the supreme law, the very creatures of the State
Legislatures, and as such do they not supercede all legislative acts in all the States not in harmony
therewith? Nor can the States recede from these acts without similar formal legislation in which three
—fourths of all the States must concur. And what 28 do they establish? The status of every native born
or naturalized person in the country as a citizen of the United States and of the State, and the right to vote
as vested in every such person. And to go further: The State of New York has declared — Article I. of
the Constitution of New York — and every other State holds that: “No member of this State shall be
disfranchised or deprived of any of the rights or privileges secured to any citizen thereof — unless by
the law of the land or the judgment of his peers.” As the State cannot pass any law which deprives
any citizen of his or her citizenship and the declared right to vote, it follows that the Legislatures
have acted directly upon this question by the adoption of these amendments, and forever precluded
themselves from receding, except by a similar proceeding, viz.: by another amendment to the
Constitution which would annul and repeal the XIV. and XV. Amendments.

These amendments are therefore not only the law of the United States, but the Constitutional law of
New York and every other State in the Union.

Therefore, I would have Congress, in the pursuit of its duty, to enforce the Constitution by
appropriate legislation, pass a Declaratory Act plainly setting forth the right of all citizens to vote,
and thus render unnecessary the thousands of suits for damages which will otherwise arise. What
legislation could be more appropriate than defining the rights of one—half the citizens of the country,

A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 16,1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull
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when they are in question? This matter has passed beyond the States. They have delegated this
power to Congress by these Amendments. Could the legislatures of the States think of legislating
upon the question of who are citizens? How can they then upon the rights of these same citizens,
which are no less clearly a part of the Constitution than the fact of citizenship.

There are some conscientious persons, I am informed, who object to petitioning Congress to pass a
Declaratory Act, for the reason that since they possess the right it is beneath their dignity to petition
for what they already have. But do they stop to consider how long they may be obliged to wait for
the exercise of suffrage? Do they think men will voluntarily grant it? If they do they will be mistaken.
But they say, “The courts will give it to us.” Will they do so without the asking? If so, it will be a great
departure from their usual practice. 29 It seems to me that petitioning Congress to enforce the
provisions of these Amendments is eminently proper, and that any who object thereto either do not
understand the powers and duties of Congress or do not wish so easy a solution of the franchise
question, which solution cannot be expected from the courts, as a decision therein may be deferred
for years.

A Washington correspondent of the Tribune of May 2d, speaking of this matter, says:

There is no probability that the women of this District will vote by the next Presidential election, if
they depend on a decision of the Courts in their favor for the privilege. The action is brought in the
Circuit Court of the District, which will adjourn before reaching the case. It cannot, then, be decided
until the October term; but, no matter what the decision may be, the case will be appealed to the
United States Supreme Court, which, judging from the present condition of its docket, will not be
able to render an opinion in less than two or three years.”

The matter of time is an important element in this issue. I am aware that women do not yet fully
appreciate the terrible power of the ballot, and that they have made no calculations what they
will do should the right to vote be accorded them the next session of Congress. I hold that when
women are fully decided in their minds that they are entitled by law to the elective franchise, it is
their solemn duty to determine how they shall use this new power.

The enfranchisement of ten millions of women, is a revolution such as the world has never seen, and
effects will follow it commensurate with its magnitude and importance. Whatever the women of the
country shall determine to do that will be done. It seems to me that nothing could be more wise and
judicious than for them even now to begin to consider what they will do.

I have had ample occasion to learn the true worth of present political parties, and I unhesitatingly
pronounce it as my firm conviction if they rule this country twenty years to come as badly as they

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have for twenty years past, that our liberties will be lost, or that the parties will be washed out by
such rivers of blood as the late war never produced. I do not speak this unadvisedly. I know there are
men in Congress — great men — who know that unless change for the better come this will.

What do the Republican leaders care for the interests of the people if they do not contribute to
their strength. They have prostituted and are prostituting the whole power of the government to
their own selfish purposes. They have wrung the very last possible dollar from the industries of the
country and are now hoarding it in the vaults of the Treasury. 30 One hundred and thirty millions of
dollars in actual cash is a great power, a dangerous power it might be made by unscrupulous men,
and I do not think but that there are those near the head of the government who are ambitious and
unscrupulous enough to take advantage of any favorable opportunity in which to make use of this
power.

True the republican party did a might work to which all future ages will look back with reverence.
True that they opened the door, unwittingly though it was done, to our enfranchisement. True that
they have made the name of slavery odious, and added new lustre to that of freedom.

But having delivered us from one damnation shall they be permitted to sell us to another, compared
to which the first is but a cipher? They have told us that the Southern slave oligarchy had virtual
control of the government for many years, and that the terrible war which we waged was the only
means by which this power could be humbled.

But do they tell us of a still more formidable oligarchy which is now fastening upon the vitals of the
country? Do they tell us that they have given four hundred millions of acres of the public domain,
millions of dollars and tens of millions of credit to build upon this new tyrant? Do they tell us that
this tyrant is even now sufficiently powerful to buy up the whole legislation of the country, to secure
the confirmation of any nomination which it desires made, and to bribe officials everywhere to the
non—performance of their duty? Do they tell us matters have been so arranged that all the revenue
they can extract from the people is turned over to this power, by which process the vitality of the
country is being gradually absorbed? No, not a bit of it. This they will leave us to learn through bitter
experience as we were left to learn what were the fruits of forty years plotting by the slave oligarchy.
This new oligarchy has plotted less than ten years and it has already attained the most threatening
and alarming proportions.

Shall we turn to the Democratic party with the hope that they may prove the necessary salvation
from the wrath to come. To do this would indeed be to show the dire extremity to which we are
driven. I hold that the Democratic party is directly responsible for the late war. The Democratic
party South would not have rebelled had not the Democratic party North promised them their

A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 16,1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull
http://www.loc.gov/resource/rbnawsa.n1569
support. Can we expect anything better from them than from the Republican party? They are not
now making themselves so antagonistic to the true interests of the country as are the Republicans,
simply because they have not got the power so to do. But where they have the power, their leaders
do not hesitate to make the most use of it to their own aggrandisement.

Therefore, it is my conviction, arrived at after the most serious and 31 careful consideration, that
it will be equally suicidal for the Woman Suffragists to attach themselves to either of these parties.
They must not — cannot afford to m� be a mere negative element in the political strife which is
sure to ensue in the next Presidential election. They must assume a positive attitude upon a basis
compatible with the principles of freedom, equality and justice which their enfranchisement would
so gloriously demonstrate as the true principles of a republican form of government. I do not
assume to speak for any one. I know I speak in direct opposition to the wishes of many by whom
I am surrounded. Nevertheless, I should fail to do my duty, did I conceal what I feel to be the true
interests of my sex, and through them, those of humanity; for the interests of humanity will never be
understood or appreciated until women are permitted to demonstrate what they are, and how they
shall be subserved. I have thus as briefly as possible given what I concieve to be the position which
the Woman's Rights Party occupies at this time, their prospective power, importance and duties, and
the dangers by which this country is threatened, from which they may save it.

If Congress refuse to listen to and grant what women ask, there is but one course left them to
pursue. Women have no government. Men have organized a government, and they maintain it to the
utter exclusion of women. Women are as much members of the nation as men are, and they have
the same human right to govern themselves which men have. Men have none but an usurped right
to the arbitrary control of women. Shall free, intelligent, reasoning, thinking women longer submit to
being robbed of their common rights. Men fashioned a government based on their own enunciation
of principles: that taxation without representation is tyranny; and that all just government exists by
the consent of the governed. Proceeding upon these axioms, they formed a Constitution declaring all
persons to be citizens, that one of the rights of a citizen is the right to vote, and that no power within
the nation shall either make or enforce laws interfering with the citizen's rights. And yet men deny
women the first and greatest of all the rights of citizenship, the right to vote.

Under such glaring inconsistencies, such unwarrantable tyranny, such unscrupulous despotism.
What is there left women to do but to become the mothers of the future government.

We will have our rights. We say no longer by your leave. We have besought, argued and convinced,
but we have failed; and we will not fail.

A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 16,1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull
http://www.loc.gov/resource/rbnawsa.n1569
We will try you just once more. If the very next Congress refuse women all the legitimate results
of citizenship; if they indeed merely so 32 much as fail by a proper declaratory act to withdraw
every obstacle to the most ample exercise of the franchise, then we give here and now, deliberate
notification of what we will do next.

There is one alternative left, and we have resolved on that. This convention is for the purpose of
this declaration. As surely as one year passes, from this day, and this right is not fully, frankly and
unequivocally considered, we shall proceed to call another convention expressly to frame a new
constitution and to erect a new government, complete in all its parts, and to take measures to
maintain it as effectually as men do theirs.

If for people to govern themselves is so unimportant a matter as men now assert it to be, they could
not justify themselves in interfering. If, ont he contrary, it is the important thing we conceive it to be,
they can but applaud us for exercising our right.

We mean treason; we mean secession, and on a thousand times grander scale than was that of the
South. We are plotting revolution; we will overslough this bogus republic and plant a government of
righteousness in its stead, which shall not only profess to derive its power from the consent of the
governed, but shall do so in reality.

We rebel against, denounce and defy this arbitrary, usurping and tyrannical government which has
been framed and imposed on us without our consent, and even without so much as entertaining
the idea that it was or could be of the slightest consequence what we should think of it, or how our
interests should be affected by it, or even that we existed at all, except in the simple case in which
we might be found guilty of some offense against its behests, when it has not failed to visit on us its
sanctions with as much rigor as if we owed rightful allegiance to it; which we do not, and which, in
the future, we will not even pretend to do.

This new government, if we are compelled to form it, shall be in principles largely like that
government which the better inspirations of of our fathers compelled them to indite in terms in
the Constitution, but from which they and their sons have so scandalously departed in their legal
constructions and actual practice. It shall be applicable, not to women alone, but to all persons who
shall transfer their allegance to it, and shall be in every practicable way a higher and more scientific
development of the governmental idea.

We have learned the imperfections of men's government, by lessons of bitter injustice, and hope
to build so well that men will desert from the less to the more perfect. And when, by our receiving
justice, or by our own actions, the old and false shall be replaced by the new and true; when for

A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 16,1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull
http://www.loc.gov/resource/rbnawsa.n1569
tyranny and exclusiveness shall be inaugurated equality 33 and fraternity, and the way prepared for
the rapid development of social reconstruction throughout.

Because I have taken this bold and positive position; because I have advocated radical political
action; because I have announced a new party and myself as a candidate for the next Presidency, I
am charged with being influenced by an unwarantable ambition. Though this is scarcely the place
for the introduction of a privileged question, I will, however, take this occasion to, once and for all
time, state I have no personal ambition whatever. All that I have done, I did because I believed the
interests of humanity would be advanced thereby.

Had I been ambitious to become the next president I should have proceeded very differently to
accomplish it. I did announce myself as a candidate, and this simple fact has done a great work in
compelling people to ask: and why not? This service I have rendered women at the expense of any
ambition I might have had, which is apparent if the matter be but candidly considered.

In conclusion, permit me again to recur to the importance of following up the advantages we have
already gained, by rapid and decisive blows for complete victory. Let us do this through the courts
wherever possible, and by direct appeals to Congress during the next session. And I again declare it
as my candid belief that if women will do one—half their duty until Congress meets, that they will be
compelled to pass such laws as are necessary to enforce the provisions of the XIV. and XV. Articles of
Amendments to the Constitution, one of which is equal political right for all citizens.

But should they fail, then for the alternative.

A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 16,1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull
http://www.loc.gov/resource/rbnawsa.n1569